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After Joe Thornton voiced his unhappiness with his contract in Boston in 2005, many teams reportedly sent offers to the Bruins. However, Thornton re-signed with the team on August 11, 2005, for a three year deal worth US$20.0 million. On November 30, 2005, Thornton was traded to the San Jose Sharks in a blockbuster four player deal, which sent forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart to Boston. Thornton was the team's leading scorer at the time by a substantial margin and many felt that Bruins GM Mike O'Connell had dealt away one of the few players who was truly showing an exemplary effort. On January 10, 2006, Thornton returned to Boston as a member of the Sharks, but was ejected for checking Bruins' defenseman Hal Gill from behind at 5:13 of the first period. Thornton received a five minute major and a game misconduct. The misconduct was later rescinded by the NHL.

The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL Entry Draft. As a lockout cancelled the 2004–05 NHL season, the draft order was determined by lottery on July 22, 2005. Teams were assigned 1 to 3 balls based on their playoff appearances and first overall draft picks from the past three years. According to the draft order, the selection worked its way up to 30 as usual; then instead of repeating the order as in past years, the draft "snaked" back down to the team with the first pick. Therefore the team with the first pick overall would not pick again until the 60th pick. The team with the 30th pick would also get the 31st pick. The draft was only seven rounds in length, compared to nine rounds in years past. The labor dispute caused the shortened draft.

The Bruins AHL affiliate was the Providence Bruins. The Bruins had 43 wins and 92 points and finished in fourth place in their division. The Bruins were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs against Portland. Eric Healey and Tim Thomas were selected to the AHL All-Star Game and Healey was the captain for PlanetUSA. Jonathan Sigalet was nominated for the AHL Man of the Year Award.[2]